Recent news
Paper in JASA-EL
A paper entitled "Intoxication and pitch control in tonal and non-tonal language speakers" (Tang, Chang, Green, Bao, Hindley, Kim, & Nevins, 2022) has been published in the open-access journal JASA Express Letters.
Abstract: Alcohol intoxication is known to affect pitch variability in non-tonal languages. In this study, intoxication's effects on pitch were examined in tonal and non-tonal language speakers, in both their native language (L1; German, Korean, Mandarin) and nonnative language (L2; English). Intoxication significantly increased pitch variability in the German group (in L1 and L2), but not in the Korean or Mandarin groups (in L1 or L2), although there were individual differences. These results support the view that pitch control is related to the functional load of pitch and is an aspect of speech production that can be advantageously transferred across languages, overriding the expected effects of alcohol.
This study followed Open Science practices, and all materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/2tx4m/.
BUCH Fellowships for Chang & Lindsey
Congratulations to Profs. Chang and Lindsey on receiving fellowships from the BU Center for the Humanities for 2022-2023! Prof. Chang was awarded a Jeffrey Henderson Senior Research Fellowship, and Prof. Lindsey was awarded a Junior Faculty Fellowship.
Welcome to the Summer 2022 labbies!
Welcome to the eleven students who will be joining the lab this summer:
- Adi Briskin is a rising sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis double-majoring in English and Linguistics. Her interests are in language acquisition.
- Eliana Mugar (CAS ’23) is a rising senior majoring in Linguistics and Computer Science. Her interests are in computational linguistics, multilingualism, language acquisition, phonetics/phonology, and sociolinguistics.
- Elise Gelblicht (CGS '24) is a rising junior majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. Her interests are in multilingualism, language acquisition, phonetics, and Korean.
- Erik Duchnowski is a rising junior at Boston University Academy. He is interested in phonetics, bilingualism, Polish, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Hebrew, and Latin.
- Jiaqi (Jenny) Geng is a recent graduate of the University of California at Davis, where she majored in Psychology. Her interests are in bilingualism, language acquisition, language production, and sociocultural factors.
- Marissa Carl is a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College double-majoring in Psychology and Spanish. Her interests are in bilingualism and multilingualism, second language acquisition, phonology, the relationship between phonetics and multilingualism at different stages of development, Spanish, Dutch, and Chinese.
- Peyton Krinsky is a rising junior at Tufts University majoring in Cognitive & Brain Sciences, Computer Science, and Music. His interests are in language cognition, the biological mechanisms that undergird second language acquisition, cognitive benefits associated with multilingualism, and Spanish.
- Steven Zhang is a rising junior at St. Mark's School. He is interested in general linguistics, Spanish, Mandarin, and English.
- Will Hutter is a rising senior at the Roxbury Latin School. He is interested in general linguistics, computational linguistics, Spanish, and Latin.
- Yifan Wu is a rising senior at Xiamen University, China, majoring in English. Her interests are in general linguistics.
- Yin Wang (GRS '23) is a rising second-year master's student in Linguistics. His interests are in semantics, experimental pragmatics, sociophonetics, and the psycholinguistics of bilingualism.
And a warm welcome back to Danielle, Felix, Jackson, Kate, Kevin, and Sam!
CISS grant for Chang
Congratulations to Prof. Chang on receiving an Undergraduate Research Assistance Grant from BU's Center for Innovation in Social Science to support student research in the lab in Summer 2022!
Chang at UC Santa Cruz
Prof. Chang will be giving a talk at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on May 9 in the Phonetics and Phonology Lunch (Phlunch) series. The title of his talk is "Multilingual phonological knowledge in speech perception and production".
GRAF for Kpogo
Congratulations to PAMLabbie Felix Kpogo on receiving a short-term Graduate Research Abroad Fellowship (GRAF) from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences to support summer fieldwork in Ghana! Well-done, Felix!
Chang at New Sounds 2022
Prof. Chang is in Barcelona this week to present a talk (co-authored with Prof. Yao Yao, Hong Kong Polytechnic University) entitled "Multiple factor analysis of individual differences among heritage Mandarin speakers" at the 10th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech (New Sounds 2022)!
Dionne & Chang at ASA
PhD student Danielle Dionne will be presenting results from the Asian Americans in Boston project in a poster (co-authored with Prof. Chang) entitled “Sociophonetic variation among Asian Americans: The role of ethnicity and style” at the 182nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) on May 23. Danielle was also admitted to the 2022 ASA School: Living in the Acoustic Environment that will be taking place before the conference. Congratulations to Danielle!
Samejon at May conferences
PhD student Kevin Samejon will be presenting his research at two conferences in May:
- “Stress-conditioned vowel change in reduplicated and suffixed words: Evidence from Cebuano /u/”, a poster at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS31), hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
- “Acoustic and social dimensions of word-final /z/ production: Data from acrolectal speakers of Philippine English”, a talk at the 7th International Conference on English Pronunciation: Issues & Practices (EPIP7), hosted by the Université Grenoble-Alpes
Congratulations to Kevin on these presentations!
Chang at Stony Brook
Prof. Chang will be giving a colloquium at Stony Brook University's Department of Linguistics on Mar. 11. The title of his talk is "Towards a bilingual agenda for research on bilingual speech: Attrition & Drift in Access, Perception, and Production Theory (ADAPPT)" (joint work with Esther de Leeuw).